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MOBILISE NOW Career Site Mobile-Optimisation in Australia
MOBILISE NOWCareer Site Mobile-Optimisation
in Australia
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Executive SummaryWhy it’s Important to Have a Mobile-Optimised Career Site
First impressions matterMobile is a competitive advantage Missed opportunities Embrace all platforms Engage candidates on their terms
How Mobile-Optimised are Career Sites?Mobile Experience – functional capabilities
Recruitment ExperienceSearch experience
Search for a job Social referrals
Application experience Applying online Filling in an application Submitting an application
Technology Experience Apple vs Android Choice of vendor mattersSummary of the mobile experience
So What and What Now? Mobile-optimised career sites – tips on what to consider
MethodologyWhat does mobile-optimisation look like?
References
Mobile devices and social media are shaping the future of talent acquisition. Job seekers are ready and willing to use their mobile devices, not only to search for positions, but also to apply for them. Many companies however, are lagging in the execution of their mobile strategy, evidenced by a misalignment between the expectations of job seekers and the reality of the mobile recruitment experience. How big is the gulf and what is the impact? We looked at Australia’s 100 largest companies and found:
Companies that execute well on their mobile strategy are more likely to build a strong employer brand,reach passive candidates and engage active job seekers. Globally 58% of companies find it difficult to source high quality candidates.6 Being mobile ready provides a competitive advantage when faced with scarcity of talent and hard-to-fill positions.
Executive Summary
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First impressions matter• Nearly 40% of career sites provided a poor search
experience.• Over one-quarter had no online application
process.
If job seekers can’t find relevant information about why they should work for you, or apply online for positions, you don’t exist.
Mobile is a competitive advantage• Nearly three-quarters of Australia’s largest 100
companies do not have mobile-optimised career sites.
• Approximately two-thirds of career sites only have basic functionality.
It is no longer enough to have a career site; it needs to be mobile-optimised and engaging. 25% of job seekers will not apply for a job if the career site is not mobile-optimised.1
Missed opportunities• Only half of the top 100 companies are using
social referral to reach untapped talent.• Only 40% of companies provided job seekers with
the ability to receive job alerts.
Job alerts, referrals and ability to share jobs via social media increase exposure to passive candidates. Companies that embrace social sourcing increase the likelihood of producing qualified candidates.2,3
Embrace all platforms• 29% of companies inadvertently halved their
candidate pool by not being compatible with iOS devices (iPads and iPhones).
• One-third of sites were mobile device-agnostic (iOS, Android), allowing candidates to attach a resume from cloud storage rather than from the mobile device.
Globally Android is increasing its market share,4 especially in emerging markets, but in developed economies data usage is fairly evenly split between iOS and Android mobile devices.5
Agnostic sites saw all talent, blocking iPhone users from applying just because they’re using an iOS device is unwise in a tight talent market.
Engage candidates on their terms• 45% of career sites allowed candidates to
pre-populate their application form from social media profiles or resumes. This speeds up the process.
• 66% of sites required a resume which is one of the biggest deterrents to applying from a mobile device.
Effective recruiting means connecting with candidates on their terms. Over one-third of job seekers don’t complete online applications because the process is too much of a hassle.2
Vendor matters• Of the vendor hosted career sites surveyed,
only those powered by PageUp enabled 100% of candidates to apply via a mobile-optimised experience.
The ability to attach the resume from the cloud is vendor dependent functionality. Being device agnostic is crucial and appears to be an overlooked factor leading many companies to miss key talent.
What we found Why it matters
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Why it’s Important to Have a Mobile-Optimised Career Site
The war for talent continues to rage. Hard-to-fill positions, developing a strong talent pool and improving employer brand are all challenges faced by today’s talent managers. The advent of social media and mobile devices are influencing the direction of talent acquisition strategies but many recruiters feel they either don’t have the adequate technology or it is not being used effectively. Many companies are lagging and despite abundant evidence that candidates have embraced social applications and mobile devices, 70% of Fortune 100 companies do not have mobile-optimised career pages.2
Two-thirds of job seekers search for jobs on their mobile devices and 84% believe this will become the most common way people will search over the next five years.7 At the same time, 46% of recruiters are dissatisfied with their current recruiting tools6 and only 20% of talent acquisition leaders believe their career sites are optimised for mobile.1
Does the misalignment matter? Surely candidates will still apply even if the experience is not as optimal as it could be. Yet, with 58% of companies finding it difficult to source high-quality candidates and 42% having problems competing for highly skilled workers6 organisations cannot afford to make this assumption. Research has shown 25% of job seekers will not apply for a job if a company’s career site was not mobile-optimised1 and 34% of candidates don’t complete online applications because the process is too much of a hassle.2
"Can you afford to miss a quarter of the talent because your career site is not
mobile-optimised?”
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It is no longer enough to have a career site; it needs to be mobile-enabled and engaging. Resting on your laurels means you’ll be overtaken and risk losing quality candidates to your competitors. Are you a laggard or an innovator? This could be one of the most compelling arguments when pitching the idea of mobile recruiting to executives as no company can afford to be behind its competitors when it comes to attracting talent.1
Mobile is a competitive advantage
A company often makes its first impression via its website and corresponding social media and mobile-enabled career offerings.2 The career site is important from an employer branding perspective – it informs candidates about a company’s priorities. Are they tech savvy and forward thinking? Do they understand how to engage today’s candidates? More than 40% of recruiters say that enhancing their employer brand is currently an obstacle and only 14% are confident their online application process aligns with their employer brand.6 Research by Aberdeen has shown mobile strategies play a pivotal role in improving employer branding and recruitment marketing efforts.8 You have to be in it to win it. If job seekers can’t find relevant information about why they should work for you, or apply for positions, you don’t exist.
First impressions matter
Both active and passive candidates use their mobile devices to find out more about companies. Over 70% of active candidates1,9,10 and 62% of passive candidates have used a mobile device to visit a company site and learn about career opportunities and search for roles.1 Options such as signing up for job alerts, referrals and the ability to share jobs via social media increase exposure to passive candidates. Social media continues to rise and research has shown that companies that embrace social sourcing increase the likelihood of producing qualified candidates.2,3
Missed opportunities
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Mobile devices have catalysed our approach to the Internet with the paradigm shift from desk-based to on-the-go Internet access. Many have by-passed the desktop for the laptop and some have by-passed the laptop for the tablet. If a job seeker only has access to a tablet at home, it makes it diffcult to find and apply for jobs if career sites are not mobile-enabled. In 2013, mobile devices and connections reached seven billion.5 By 2018, over half of all devices connected to the mobile network will be smart devices (compared to 21% in 2013) and 96% of mobile data traffic will originate from these devices.5 By 2018, the amount of mobile data traffic generated by tablets will be nearly double the traffic generated by the entire global mobile network in 2013.5
Embrace all platforms
Effective recruiting means connecting with candidates on their terms. If the experience of applying on a mobile device is time consuming, inconvenient or frustrating, candidates will not apply. Although mobile capabilities are gaining adoption as candidates expect to search and apply for jobs, receive communications, and manage schedules via mobile devices,11 only a minority of organisations (13%) have adequately invested in making the recruitment process mobile-friendly.1 A mobile-friendly application experience is not about providing a seamless process just for the sake of it. Research has shown 34% of job seekers don’t complete online applications because the process is too much of a hassle,2 and completion rates were 50% higher for jobs with a simple and mobile-friendly application process than those with a more complex experience.1
Engage candidates on their terms
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How Mobile-Optimised are Career Sites?There is a gulf between candidates’ expectations and the reality of mobile talent acquisition practices. Research has shown 89% of job seekers think organisations should have mobile-optimised sites9 but in 2013, less than a third of companies did.2 Given the pace of mobile adoption and the increasing awareness that a mobile strategy is required to secure talent, has this gap narrowed?
The desktop version of a website squashed to fit onto a mobile screen is not a pleasant viewing experience. A simplified version with content arranged to fit the screen of the mobile device is required. Specific elements include responsive design, clean design, rendering, cross-linking and redirection (see methodology for definitions). For a career site to be considered mobile-optimised this should occur throughout the entire experience.
Our research found that of Australia’s top 100 career sites only 29% of companies have sites that are mobile-optimised. A further 17% have a compilation of mobile-optimised features and desktop features. A mobile-optimised career site is no longer an optional feature; it’s essential. Failure to do so means missing an opportunity to build a strong employer brand, but more importantly, talent will look elsewhere.
Mobile-optimisation of functionality
Mobile-optimised
Mix of mobile-optimised & desktop features
Negligable mobile-optimisation
Mobile experience – functional capabilities
Nearly three quarters of Australia’s largest 100 listed companies do not have mobile-optimised career sites
29%
17%
54%
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Mobile Experience – does the site look and feel like it’s been built for mobile content?
Recruitment Experience – does the career site allow candidates to search and apply for jobs in
a mobile-optimised manner?
1.
2.
We looked at two aspects:
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Our research also found 75% of career sites have the basic functionality of automatic re-orientation of content and the majority can correctly redirect candidates to pages involved in the recruitment experience (73%).
Responsive design had both the strongest and weakest elements. Three-quarters of sites orientated correctly but content was only resized to fit the screen one-third of the time, requiring candidates to pan and scroll or pinch to be able to see information.
Roughly a third of career sites have big buttons, clear calls to action or render graphical images properly. If the experience feels clumsy or difficult, jobseekers will not persist. Candidates need to be engaged on their terms, and expect sites to be mobile-optimised.
Redirects to relevant content
Experience is mobile-rendered
Clear calls to action
Big buttons
Minimal planning & scrolling
Correct orientation
34% 27% 39%
73% 11% 16%
32% 37% 31%
75% 13% 12%
39% 34% 27%
Mobile-optimised sizing 32% 51% 19%
39% 30% 31%
10%0% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Mobile functionality of career sites
Always Sometimes Never
Always Never
Clean design
Responsivedesign
Two-thirds of companies have only basic functionality in their career sites
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Recruitment ExperienceMobile-optimisation is not an end in itself: sites can be mobile-optimised and still provide a poor recruitment experience. Big buttons, resizing, correct orientation, scrolling and cross-linking are important to enable a simple, easy and quick process. If the recruitment process is not relevant or streamlined, companies will fail to create an experience that engages job seekers. A bad recruiting experience can not only frustrate candidates, but also alienate them and their peers.
Most career sites of large organisations, at a minimum, will list open positions. However, applying online requires more effort and commitment and should be of greater importance to the job seeker than simply viewing open positions. Many companies rationalise an emphasis on search over application functionality, assuming candidates will take the application step via a more traditional channel such as a desktop. Evidence suggests that many job seekers prefer applying via mobile devices and become frustrated if they can’t. A LinkedIn study found nearly half of active job seekers have used a mobile device to apply for a job. This is true even of passive candidates, nearly a quarter of whom have applied on a mobile device.1
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The search experience includes the ability to search for jobs, filter jobs, subscribe to email alerts, save jobs, refer jobs and share a job on social media.
The application experience includes the ability to start the application process, the application form, requirements for attachments (e.g. resume, cover letter), and the ability to complete and submit the application.
1.
2.
We looked at two aspects of the talent acquisition process – the search experience and the application experience.
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61% of sites provided an optimised search experience for candidates
The majority (90%) of companies have job search functionality but only 61% provided an experience that was mobile-optimised. Job search alone is no longer enough to stand out amongst the crowd; sites which provided a better experience also had functionality for filtering or saving searches.
Many companies are missing the opportunity to engage talent and build out their talent pool pipeline, with less than half providing candidates with the ability to subscribe to email alerts.
If the search experience is cumbersome or frustrating a company reduces the likelihood that job seekers will persist and apply for the job via their mobile device. It is a misconception that job seekers will search for jobs on their mobile device and then wait to apply from a desktop. You may lose talented candidates to your competitors who are able to secure the talent with their mobile-optimised process.
Search experience
Search for a job
50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Candidate can filter the job
Candidate can save job/job basket
Candidate can subscribe to email alerts
10%0% 20% 30% 40%
Job search features most likely to be mobile-optimised
Candidate can search for a job
25%
36%
61%
40%
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50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Candidate can save job on social media
10%0% 20% 30% 40%
Social referral mobile-optimisation
Candidate can refer job to a friend
49%
53%
Only 50% of companies are using social referrals to reach untapped talent
53% of Australia’s top 100 company career sites allow candidates to forward a job to a friend via email and 49% allow social sharing. Unfortunately, Australian companies are lagging their global counterparts, where 85% of the Fortune 100 are allowing candidates to share job opportunities via email, and 51% via social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.2 Embracing a social-enabled sourcing effort increases the likelihood of reaching qualified candidates and tapping into a passive audience.
Social referrals
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The conversion rate from search to application is influenced by the candidate’s initial experience on the career site. The conversion rate from application to submission is further influenced by the application experience – the ability to apply online, the application form and the need for attachments.
Almost one-quarter of Australia’s top 100 career sites provide no online application process. Requiring candidates to email their application to the HR department is archaic. Whilst your recruiters are checking their inbox, the competition is reviewing online submitted applications.
Applying online
23% of sites have no online application process
Application experience provided by the top 100 career sites
Can apply online
Email only
Cannot apply online
14%
77%
9%
Application experience
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Filling in an application
Minimising data entry simplifies and speeds up the application process, however the vast majority of organisations fail to minimise the data entry required by candidates. Social media sites and job boards such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Seek provide functionality which allows career sites to pull information from the social profile of the candidate. The majority of companies however, fail to effectively utilise this functionality. Only 45% of career sites enabled candidates to pre-populate the application form with personal information stored in their social profile (LinkedIn, Facebook, Seek), cloud-based resume (Google Drive or Dropbox) or a resume stored on their mobile device.
The issue with pulling data from these sources is that it’s unstructured, requiring candidates to edit or correct the data. Pulling data from a resume is even less convenient than using a social profile as it requires the candidate to have easy access to their resume. Editing of auto-filled information was required for all sites that used pre-fill functionality.
Nearly one-third of the Top 100 Australian company career sites had no prefill capability; candidates were required to manually fill in data to begin the application process.
Only 45% of sites e�ectively utilise data pre-population from online sources
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23%
32%
45%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Autocompletion
Ability to pre-populate application form
Optimised
Experi ence
Basic
Yes No prefill No online
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Data entry is a real hassle for candidates and assumes in a large part that candidates have stored their resume on their phone or in the cloud. Research shows that 40% of professional and 50% of active candidates have not applied to a job via a mobile device because they didn’t have a stored resume.1 For many job seekers the need to attach a resume negates the whole purpose of applying to a mobile-enabled career site.
Some roles require a resume – namely technical, specialist or senior positions, where there is a need to demonstrate experience and skills. The resume is the quickest and easiest way to communicate this information, and preferable to lengthy and unwieldy online application forms. Many companies are embracing Talent Relationship Management (TRM) and for forward-looking companies, the resume may become a thing of the past as the ongoing relationship between the company and prospective talent replaces this traditional mechanism.
In the near term, to simplify the application process and improve the candidate experience, companies could offer jobs based on social profiles. Research indicates 38% of organisations believe LinkedIn will replace the resume over the next few years.8
Submitting an application
66% of sites required candidates to attach a resume to submit their application
Submitting a job application
Can submit without resume
Cannot submit application
Resume required to submit
27%
66%
7%
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29% of sites inadvertently halved their candidate pool by not being compatible with iOS devices
Technology Experience
Career sites are mobile device-agnostic, right? That was the assumption we had when we commenced this research, so the results were unexpected. A completed application could not be submitted for over one-quarter of career sites from an iOS device (iPhone or iPad) because a resume was required. The only “attach” option available was from phone storage which takes candidates to photos. This is not an issue for Android devices as they contain storage functionality.
Global statistics show that Android is increasing its market share, especially in emerging markets, as consumers move away from top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products.4 In developed economies, however, data usage is fairly evenly split between iOS and Android mobile devices.5 Regardless of the exact split, blocking iPhone users from applying just because they’re using an iOS device is unwise in a tight talent market.
Apple vs Android
In addition to the phone storage system, resumes can be stored in the cloud using applications such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Over one third of sites gave candidates the option of attaching their resume from cloud storage. This enabled the application process to be completed and made these sites device-agnostic. This functionality is provided by the talent acquisition system vendor. Those vendors which do not provide the functionality to “attach a resume from cloud storage” are potentially halving their customers’ candidate pool.
Of all the vendor-hosted career sites surveyed, only those powered by PageUp enabled 100% of candidates to successfully and easily apply via mobile devices. Although other vendors had the functionality the overall experience was poor.
Choice of vendor matters
PageUp
Taleo
NGA
SuccessFactors
BigRedSky
Fusion
iCIMS
Seek
Silkroad
Springboard
Other
Inhouse
25%
13%
2%2%1%
1%1%
33%
13%3%
3%3%
Career site hosted by...
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56% of companies miss out on seeing key talent due to the following reasons: online applications are not catered for, or a resume is required but cannot be attached. 44% of companies see all talent, due either to being able to access resumes from cloud storage, or not requiring a resume to be submitted.
Summary of mobile experience
Key talent applying via mobile phone
No online application
Resume required but cannot be uploaded
Resume required and can be uploaded
No resume required
9%
14%
4%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
No application Email only Can’t submit
27%no online
application process
29%attach from
phone storage
37%attach resume from
cloud storage
7%no resume required
27%of companies do not see the available talent
29%of companies halved the available talent pool
37%of companies saw allavailable talent
7%of companies saw allavailable talent
can apply can’t apply
Device agnosticcompanies see allavailable talent
Device agnosticcompanies see allavailable talent
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So What and What Now?
Mobile-optimisation is not whether or not it’s possible to apply, but whether or not it’s a simple, engaging, frustration-free experience. The best way to determine if your career site has content suitable for mobile devices is to search and apply for a position from your mobile phone.
Mobile-optimised career sites - tips to consider:
If the answer to any of the above is ‘no’, now is the time to rethink your strategy and build out your long term vision for mobile. Once you have set your plan-of-attack in motion, it’s important to track its success. The acceleration of smartphone penetration coupled with the uptake of social recruiting is shaping talent acquisition strategies. Having a clear strategy for leveraging mobile and social media will help overcome challenges faced by talent acquisition leaders such as creating strong employer branding, sourcing talent in a tight market and development of a strong talent pool. Continuing to place a low priority on a mobile-friendly recruitment experience will diminish your competitive advantage as talent is lost to the competition.
The ability to browse through job postings, filter and save jobs of interest on your mobile device.
The ability to subscribe to alerts, refer a friend and share jobs via social media.
A streamlined process which only includes steps essential to the recruitment process.
No dead-ends or back tracking when searching or applying for jobs.
Short, clear text with obvious calls to action.
An application process that takes less than one minute.
A seamless experience from the company to career vendor site.
Application forms that can be prefilled from social profiles or resumes and requires minimal editing.
If a resume or cover letter is required it can be attached from cloud storage.
The same experience on an Android or iOS (iPhone or iPad) device.
Auto-acknowledgement of submitted application.
An end-to-end mobile search and application experience.
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MethodologyFindings in this paper are based on PageUp’s analysis of the career site experience of the largest 100 Australian companies by market capitalisation, a subset of the ASX200. The research was conducted in August 2014. Career sites were viewed on smartphones. Experience was measured from when a Candidate clicks on job opportunities, ending at the point where candidate clicks submit. iPhone mobile-optimisation experience was tested using Safari. Android mobile-optimisation experience was tested using Google Chrome.
To be mobile-optimised the career site must include responsive design, clean design, rendering, cross-linking and redirection. This should occur throughout the entire experience.
• Responsive design refers to the viewing experience and has three main elements – orientation, sizing and panning and scrolling. In an optimal experience these aspects happen automatically – pages rotate horizontally and vertically without a�ecting the content, content resizes appropriately, there is minimal panning and job seekers can easily scroll through content.
• Clean design is important to user experience. Correct, big buttons and simple, clear calls to action to users are important to a clean mobile-optimised experience.
• Rendering is the process by which computer graphics generate an image. In the context of mobile-optimisation, rendering is crucial as it implies a website is built specifically in a mobile page format. Sites should stay clear of Flash which is not supported by Apple devices (iPhone and iPads) and have lightweight pictures and videos so they can be downloaded quickly.
• Redirection and cross-linking means only pages or links relevant to the recruitment experience are presented. A candidate should not come across any dead-ends as this negates the whole experience. Correct cross-linking and redirection provides the candidate with a seamless recruitment experience whilst minimising the number of clicks.
What does mobile-optimisation look like?
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Mobile Recruiting Playbook, LinkedIn Talent Solutions, November 19, 20132013 Fortune 100 Talent Acquisition Report, Seven Step, February 06, 20132013 Social Recruiting Survey Results, Jobvite, 2013Forecast: PCs, Ultramobiles and Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 2010-2017, 4Q13 Update, Gartner, December 18, 2013CISCO Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Tra c Forecast Update, 2018, CISCO, 2014Jibe 2013 Talent Acquisition Survey, Jibe, 2013Infographic: The Rise of Mobile Job Search, Glassdoor, May 24, 2013Aligning Your Mobile Recruitment Strategy to Your Corporate Strategy, Aberdeen Group, July, 2013Mobile Recruitment: More than Social Media, Sonru.com, 20142013 Mobile Recruiting Outlook, Simply Hired, 2013Hype Cycle for Social Software, 2014. Gartner, August 04, 2014
References
Rebecca is the Head of Customer Insights & Market Research at PageUp and is responsible for research into customer and market insights. She has nearly 20 years of experience delivering product, thematic and strategic human capital management research and thought leadership. With a diverse background covering academia, strategic consulting and equity investment, she holds a Bachelor of Science with Honours, Master of Science, Master of Commerce (Management) and a financial industry qualification (CFA).
About the Author: Rebecca Skilbeck
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PageUp is a global talent management platform provider that's passionate about helping organisations automate their people processes and
strategically align their human resources across borders, business units, cultures and languages, to execute on corporate objectives.
Our award-winning, SaaS solution unifies Recruiting and Onboarding, Learning and Development, Performance Management, Compensation,
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management challenges that are inherent in operating across both developed and emerging markets.
We were originally founded in 1997 in Australia, and have since expanded globally to support both local and multinational organisations, including
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